Thursday, May 31, 2012

His and Hers

I haven't posted so much lately. Sinus issues have kept me from really spending the time on anything other than work and the necessities of life. There are some great goings-on here on Long Island though. My lovely and amazing fiance had been studying for her Technician license for the last month or so. Armed with a notebook, access to the QRZ.com practice tests, and Gordon West's book, she finally took and passed the exam this past Saturday. Now we just need the callsign. A friend of ours once told us that there are two types of Ham Radio spouses. Ones that embrace the hobby, maybe not to the fullest, but will attend picnics and events, and there are the ones that run screaming from it. I have been blessed with a fiance who fell in love with the Ham Radio community, and the people we have met through it. I'm not sure that I'll ever come home to find her staring at Smith Charts, but I think she and I might get to fight over the soldering iron a bit.

Well, anyway, on to the Baofengs you see here. She sort-of owed me a birthday gift for awhile, and I thought she needed a congratulatory gift for passing the exam, so we ordered his-n-hers Baofeng UV-3R Mark IIs. I know quite a few hams that have purchased these little gems and most are quite pleased. Now, I understand that I cannot expect the performance of a $300 Kenwood, or other similar HTs, but the value is quite amazing. Here in the NY Metro area, a small 2 watt HT is not a bad thing to have.

As I do with practically everything I own, I have started the process of learning all I can about getting the most out of these little radios. I will post the results as I experiment. So far so good though. Stay tuned, more to follow.